Loevy, one of the state’s most respected political scientists, talks about his desire to create competitive seats and how the entire process completely broke down at the end. The commission, after adopting a first set of maps drawn by Democrats with largely bipartisan votes, was forced to redraw another set because Republicans challenged the initial maps.

The second set was not so bipartisan, with the 11-member commission voting 6-5 to approve new Democratic drawn maps that paired a number of Republican incumbents together. The commission’s unaffiliated chairman, Mario Carrera, sided with Democrats.

Loevy largely defends Carrera, who earned the nickname “Super Mario” during the process, pointing out that it was Democrats, not Republicans, who initially complained they were getting worked over in an early set of maps where Carrera sided with Republicans.

In one chapter, Loevy describes how Republicans were “steamrollered” on the commission at the end of the process, with Democrats seeming to have more time than Republicans to draw maps (something Democrats say is false) and Republicans being locked out from offering maps the last day the commission met.

Loevy also commends Democrats on the commission for being more strategic than Republicans, who he said were “poorly organized” at first.

The Republicans:
 Did not caucus together until halfway through the process of adopting the preliminary redistricting plan.
 Held caucuses only after one of the Republican commissioners (that would have been me) asked about caucuses and argued strongly for holding them.
 Usually presented only one redistricting plan for each house of the state legislature in each of the seven regions. When only one Republican plan was being presented per house and region, the Democrats had an easy time of studying, critiquing, and debunking that one Republican plan.
 Counted among their number three moderate Republicans who strongly supported the idea of a compromise plan that would get an 11 to 0 final vote. The plan was summed up by the slogan: “Let’s go eleven-oh!” The hope was that all the Democrats and Republicans would vote in support of such a bipartisan plan. These three Republicans thus voted for a number of Democratic redistricting plans, particularly the state Senate and state House of Representatives plans for El Paso County (Colorado Springs).

Loevy said Republicans eventually got their act together, caucusing and adopting maps favoring Republicans in ski country counties and Denver suburbs.

And he said that even with a “gerrymandered” map that targets GOP incumbents, he was pleased the process produced maps with 38 competitive seats (some Republicans dispute the definition of “competitive.”)

His recommendations for fixing the process include:

– Changing the Colorado State Reapportionment Commission to the Colorado State Redistricting Commission. “The commission should be named for what it is actually doing,” Loevy writes.

– Having all 11 members of the commission appointed by the chief justice of the Colorado Supreme Court.

“Putting appointment of the Redistricting Commission exclusively in the (hands of the) Chief Justice holds the best promise of getting a truly non-partisan legislative redistricting process in Colorado,” Loevy argues.

– Requiring the chief justice to appoint five Democrats, five Republicans and one unaffiliated voter, the last to serve as commission chairman.

– Requiring all redistricting maps to be approved a two-thirds majority (8 out of 11 votes).

“This would guarantee protection for both political parties from gerrymandering undertaken by a simple majority of only six out of eleven votes,” he writes. “In other words, a minimum of two votes from both political parties would be necessary to adopt any redistricting plan.”

– If the parties can’t agree on a plan, the chief justice would approve one.

Clear the
Bench Colorado STRONGLY disagrees with Prof. Loevy’s dangerously naive
and anti-representative recommendation that ALL appointments to the commission
be made by the Chief Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court – in fact, we
strongly recommend that NONE of the
commissioners be appointed by the Chief Justice, since it:
(1) politicizes the courts (even beyond the extent to which the courts in
Colorado are already excessively politicized), and
(2) places the Chief Justice in a conflict of interest, since the court is
responsible for reviewing the “work product” of the court’s
appointees.
(In fact, an argument could be made that the Chief Justice should have recused
himself from participating in the review of his appointee’s work product this
year, as well – which might be the ONLY conceivable grounds for appealing the
Colorado Supreme Court’s decision at the federal level for due process
violations).

Lynn Bartels thinks politics is like sports but without the big salaries and protective cups. The Washington Post's "The Fix" blog has named her one of Colorado's best political reporters and tweeters.

Joey Bunch has been a reporter for 28 years, including the last 12 at The Denver Post. For various newspapers he has covered the environment, water issues, politics, civil rights, sports and the casino industry.